Lewis Hamilton vowed not to give up and Charles Leclerc called for team unity after Ferrari endured a damaging weekend in Sao Paulo, as the Scuderia prepares for the final three race weekends of the 2025 season.
The messages came hours after Ferrari chairman John Elkann praised the team’s mechanics and engineers and pointed to the marque’s recent World Endurance Championship win in Bahrain as proof that unity delivers results. Elkann urged the drivers to concentrate on driving and reduce public commentary to help the team recover its form.
Leclerc, posting first on X, described Sao Paulo as ‘a very difficult weekend’ and said it was disappointing to return with almost no points at a critical moment in the fight for second place in the Constructors’ Championship. He added that the run-in is ‘uphill from now’ and stressed that ‘only unity can help us turn that situation around in the last three races.’
Hamilton, who called his season at Ferrari a ‘nightmare’ after retiring in Brazil, wrote on Instagram that while the race ‘wasn’t the one we wanted’ and the result was ‘gutting’ after recent progress, he backs the team and himself and ‘will not give up.’
Ferrari scored zero points in Brazil after a second double DNF of the season. Leclerc was knocked out on lap six when contact between Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli caused Antonelli’s Mercedes to hit his car while he was running third. Hamilton retired later after sustaining damage when he ran into the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine on the opening lap, an incident that forced an early pit stop and brought a penalty.
The blank weekend left Ferrari 36 points behind Mercedes and four behind Red Bull with three race weekends remaining, putting pressure on the team to defend second in the constructors’ standings. Historically consistent — Ferrari have finished outside the top three in the standings just three times in the last 31 seasons (2009, 2014, 2020) — the team also faces the possibility of its first winless year since 2021. Leclerc has been runner-up twice across seven podium finishes this season.
Formula 1 now heads to Las Vegas for the Grand Prix on November 21-23, followed by races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, as Ferrari attempt to regroup and salvage their campaign.